Thursday, February 7, 2008

Obama Has Money, Clinton Has Much Less

In an odd mixture of fortunes, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton find themselves in very different financial situations. Senator Obama raised $7.2 million since Super Tuesday balloting, including $3 million in a 24 hour period. Meanwhile, Senator Clinton had to loan her campaign $5 million and is not paying her senior staff.

Obama's fundraising prowess, via extensive use of the Internet, has worried Hillary Clinton and her supporters. Both have done a remarkable job raising money during the past year, but Obama continues to raise the mark. In addition to the recent $7.2 million raised in the two days after Super Tuesday, Obama raised $32 million during the month of January. This amount exceeded that of any Presidential candidate in American history.

Hillary Clinton has asked Barack Obama to debate once a week, something that Obama has refused to do.

Clinton is not completely out of the fundraising excitement to recently hit the Democratic party. She raised $4 million from 35,000 new contributors since Super Tuesday.

Obama is planning to use his funds to engage in a major sprint across the country. He will appear in many states this weekend that plan to hold political contests between he and Senator Clinton.

Clinton plans to focus heavily on Ohio and Texas, two large states that hold primaries March 4. She already has strong leads in those places. She also believes that the senior citizens of Pennsylvania are going to provide strong support on their April 22 primary.

Some say that the letter sent by Clinton's Campaign Manager, Patti Solis, inviting Senator Obama to weekly debates is a clear sign that her camp is worried.

"I'm sure we can find a suitable place to meet on the campaign trail," Solis stated in the letter. "There's too much at stake and the issues facing the country are too grave to deny voters the opportunity to see the candidates up close."